Cat and Mouse Games [sevenpercentsolution and Seraph]

[Seraph]

Cat and Mouse Games​

The weeks after saving the world had this empty feeling to them, as if something hadn’t finished quite right for everyone. Yet everything had ended very well, all things considered. They had managed to subdue and capture Nuada, granted it was only have Nuala had put their lives in jeopardy by stabbing herself. An inch higher and the royal twins would have died; it was because of that bravery to put her own life on the line that she had been offered a place in the BPRD. The only downside to this arrangement in the eyes of some was that her brother still lived, given that it meant Nuala lived, Abe was all right with that.

The blue amphibian man walked towards the secured facility where Nuada was housed. It was another floor down from where most of the activity within the BPRD occurred, a place that rather existed in its own sort of time. That wasn’t to say it operated on a different sense of time, the hours and minutes seemed to be longer down there because of the lack of things to do. While normal guard shifts would have been anyway from six to eight hours, when guarding Nuada, the agents were switched out every two to three. The other reason for that was that the Prince tended to be offensive to many of the human agents.

Truth be told, Abe was vaguely interested in Nuada. Not in the way he was for his sister, but scientifically. He wanted to know what caused Nuada to desire to destroy humanity to protect his people whereas his sister had chosen a different path. He could have written it off as the twins being two-sides of a coin; light/dark, good/evil, or destruction/creation. But that didn’t sit right, it would be like labeling Red just as a demon. It left no room for understanding, which was something they all craved in some form or another. He knew that Red wanted to be everyone’s hero and to be able to live among humans with acceptance. Liz wanted to be normal. Most of all, Abe understood that they all wanted a place to belong.

And that had it. In a sense they were a family, and Nuala…He found himself clumsy around her, and easily confused. He liked her, and Red had pitied him slightly because it could have only ended badly, but now? He blinked twice and nodded to the agents, “I’m here to talk with him.”

“Not to relieve us,” one asked plaintively.

The second guard opened the clear door and motioned that Abe should hurry through, “Yell if you need any help. He’s been pleasant today.”

The room that Nuada had been placed in had nothing he could shape into a weapon, but did have a bathroom that was sealed off from the rest of the room for privacy. It was rather Spartan: a bad, a bookcase with poetry (Nuala insisted on that), and a desk. It was confusing that a desk be in there since Nuada wasn’t, at the moment, allowed pens or pencils since they could be turned into weapons. More baffling was the fact that a neat stack of paper sat in the center of it. The room had enough room that one could move about comfortably and exercise freely if they wished, but it was still a cell.

“Good afternoon, Nuada,” Abe said, calmly, as if the last time he hadn’t seen the Prince his sister had just stabbed herself.

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

Healing had taken time for both of them - it had been Nuala who had plunged the knife into her own body to stop her brother, but Nuada had suffered the same effects as though he had put the knife into himself. It was unclear if Nuala had intended for them to die that day, or if her aim had been exactly where she wanted it to be, but even a millimetre of miscalculation would have killed them both.

But instead, it had left them with a shared scar, a clean line just beneath the navel - it was still so fresh that it stood out on their skin, red and angry beneath their clothes, and when Nuala ran her fingers over the mark on her belly to check it's progress, Nuada felt it, the feather-lightness of her fingers. His sister, his dear sister, who only had the best intentions for everyone, who had never even hurt a blade of grass, who cried for humans and monsters alike - she had done the extreme just to stop him.

The two of them, though similar in appearance, were like day and light. She was the bright spark, the sunny extravert who wanted nothing more than to see the world prosper and for everyone to live in harmony, while he was the one who just wanted the humans to -

- go and die already.

They were greedy, hostile, and perpetually unsatisfied with what the Mother Earth had to offer them - so they would take and take, and take more, they would continue to dig and destroy and consume until there was nothing left, until they had destroyed every other creature, every plant, every space of clean air. They would never stop until it was just them and a dead planet, and when that happened, they would destroy eachother, hunt eachother down like the animals they were.

Nuada's intention had been to stop them - the Golden Army had been the key to do so, he had controlled them, the unstoppable war machine. No, not even a war, war implied it was two-sided, but this would have simply been a massacre, had the Golden Army left the underground, they would have sought out every human being on the planet and wiped them out, and nothing the humans did would stop them. All the bullets and nuclear warheads and viruses in their ridiculous arsenal wouldn't have even left a dent in the mechanical soldiers - they would have picked off every one of them without emotion, without mercy for woman or child.

And Nuada - he knew the barbarism of his own views, he understood Nuala's views because he had to, because they shared their thoughts, because they knew eachother so intimately, and no matter how they tried to escape it, they would always understand eachother. And it was because Nuala understood him so keenly that she had made her choice - she had known he would never relent, and he had known she would never willingly give him the last piece of the crown, regardless of how much he wished she would stand at his side, it simply wouldn't have been like her to do so. Nuala was not like him, and he understood that, and loved her for the beauty of her mind.

But he would not share that view with her; he couldn't.

And that, of course, was why he had been locked away in the sub-level of the B.P.R.D, caged and guarded like a wild animal, but given the modest accomodations of a human prisoner. He was stuck between two worlds and the dreariness of it would have been mind-numbing if not for the literature his sister had insisted on supplying him with - at first, he had refrained from opening the books. They were human literature, and he had been certain nothing they had to say would be of interest to him - but he had secretly been pleased to discover that the rare member of the horrifying species actually had a modest amount of intellect.

Some of them had been too dreamy for him, too filled with the ideals that had defined and shaped his dear sister's views of the world, but it was juxtaposed by the darkness of some of the poets he read, and the bleak and honest outlooks of some of the philosophers. Day and light; even the humans understood duality - how quaint.

Company was sparse in those weeks; Nuala did not come to see him often, but he understood why; they clashed in a beautiful way, wanted and loathed eachother, couldn't live without eachother, but couldn't be around eachother for long, lest they be infected by the other's views - her soppy sweetness or his raging cynicism. They were a disturbing and precious pair, so they kept their visits sparing.

Otherwise, his only company had been the guards on the other side of the door - two human men who looked at him cock-eyed and twisted their mouths at the sight of him, like he was the disgusting one. Some days he was amused by them, and others, he wished he could get his hands on their throats and squeeze the very breath out of their bodies, just so they would understand, so they could begin to understand what their kind did to the planet.

They would never fully understand, not until they saw their own race slowly wiped out, and when they were gone - there would be peace.

On that particular day, his feelings towards the guards were - apathetic. He had spent some time picking their minds and had found it incredibly dull - neither of them seemed to have actual lives outside of their jobs and as such it gave Nuada very little to work with, aside from having the mild amusement of knowing that his life in a cell was more interesting than theirs outside of it.

Aside from the few seconds of face-time with the guards when they delivered meals - which Nuada frequently refused to eat - it had been a week since he had been engaged by a visitor, the most recent one being the B.P.R.D's director, Manning. The idiot had tried to negotiate with him, tried to reason the aggression out of him as though he believed his very presence could change a lifetime's worth of belief - even more insulting, he was a human, and an unintelligent one at that. The whole thing had left a foul taste in both of their mouths, the visit only reaffirming both their beliefs in - the other side.

But on one very unspectacular day, Nuada found himself with unexpected company - the amphibious male that his sister had become so fond of. He had seen her feelings for him, heard them in his head as though they had been his own thoughts - and he couldn't disagree with darling Nuala's choice - Abraham was a rather spectacular specimen, both in appearance and mind.

A bit naive, however.

"Abraham," Nuada said, a curt greeting, but not a particularly friendly one, "How strange."

He didn't need to ask if Nuala had sent him; he could see into the man's head if he tried - Abraham had come down by his own volition, a curious matter, but Nuada was so bored by his surroundings that he found he didn't want to pry into the other's mind. He wanted to take his time.

"Have you run out of books to read?" he asked mildly.

 

[Seraph]

Abe tried not to fidget at the question though he did take a small step to the right as if to begin pacing before he stopped stiffly. It was true; he had run out of books to read in the library and the magazines he was able to collect from the agents did little to occupy his mind. To add insult to injury, Manning wasn’t going to spend any money on buying new works of literature for the genius as part of his punishment for giving Nuada the final crown-piece. Abe knew, he supposed, deep down that the prince wouldn’t have hurt his sister but it was the fear that made him do it. A small part of him reared its head and insisted that the punishment was too harsh, as it had since he asked Manning for several new books only to be denied. But was the punishment too hard given what could have happened if not for Nuala?

He replied softly, “Yes.” He had never been a particularly good liar; he tended to stutter with boldface lies. The only reason he had been able to keep the crown piece a secret was that no one asked him out-right if he knew where it was. Abe took another step into the room, taking his back from the relative safety of the door but still keeping it to a wall as he continued to speak, “It will be a while before I get new books.”

The blue man motioned towards the bookcase Nuada had, “And you? Have you read all of those?” He had helped Nuala pick out the poetry compilations as they spoke in the library, she had been sitting down given her injured state, but together they had formed a team to find literature that might entice the captured prince. He was curious as to what Nuada thought of the poems. He had thrown in several books involving darker and deeper themes on a whim; unsure of Nuala confused her likes with her brother’s sometimes.

It had grown more and more obvious to him with the time he spent around her, that the pair of twins were a single soul split into two bodies. He added lightly without thinking, “Nuala thought you would find them helpful for seeing why humanity is worth saving.”

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

He was nervous; how sickeningly sweet.

Nuada was watching Abe closely, inspecting the other's movements, the way he shifted and was careful to always stay facing him, yes, he was paranoid of the prince, and Nuada couldn't blame him - after all, there was no cause for trust between them, and it was unclear if his sister's love for the amphibious man would be enough to stop him from doing something terrible to him. Though, really, Nuada could be reasonable - there would be no benefit for him to kill Abe, especially not now, and he wasn't some simple-minded murderer - no, he killed with reason, never just because he could.

"I have read them," Nuada said, "Some were promising, but a few verses from an idealistic philosopher isn't quite enough to establish my belief in human potential."

He moved close to the side of the cell, and his long fingers wrapped around the bars in front of him,

"And how strange that you should have such faith in them, Abraham, when your - keepers -" he said, making sure to emphasize the word, driving home the point that he believed Abe was something of a house pet to the B.P.R.D, "Would deny you the simple pleasure of literature for having the tenacity to follow your own beliefs. They don't like their pets having will here."

His fingers stroked absently at the bar, his yellow eyes flicking to Abe,

"Do you also roll over when Manning tells you to?" he asked, a vague amusement in his voice.

 

[Seraph]

Abe watched Nuada warily as he moved to wrap his hands around the bars of his cage, and the blue amphibian frowned slightly at his phrasing of the words. He looked down to the side and gave a slight shrug before he remembered his words and spoke, his eyes seeking Nuada's golden ones, "There are many places the funds are being allocated to at the moment, and novels are...frivolous in Manning's eyes." It was a half-truth, an almost lie and he could pull it off easily. Their unauthorized trip to Ireland those many weeks ago meant budget cuts in many areas of the B.P.R.D.

"But no," he answered, his eyes flicking back to the floor and then to the ceiling, "I do not roll over when told--by anyone." There was a slightly accusatory undertone, as if he were suggesting that Nuada had little choice but to 'roll over' like a good pet when told. Though he was being treated well, no one knew he was there and honestly in this situation there were no rules regarding the Elven prince's treatment.

Abe watched Nuada's long pale fingers for a moment and tried not to note how similar they were to Nuala's hands. He glanced down at his own hands and started to pace in a manner, rather side-stepping back and forth to keep his front to Nuada, as he plucked at his gloves. He had worn them down here so he could have a conversation with Nuada without picking up any emotions or signals. He wanted this to be a fair conversation.

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

He watched Abe's eyes; large, lamplight blue things with no discernable pupil - for most, it was difficult to tell where he was looking, but Nuada could tell with ease. He met the gaze, and he cocked his head back a little,

"Of course, I'm sure the budget is going to more important causes - like the stock of cigars and brandy Manning keeps in his oak-panelled office." Nuada said, and then added darkly, "Or, perhaps, to fund the salaries for some more of those disposable humans, after so many of them got eaten."

He sounded almost amused by the fact; really, those little razor-toothed things were a terrible way to die, being gnawed down to the bone by hundreds of tiny mouths. Those faeries were insatiable, regardless of how cute they looked with their mouths closed.

He watched as Abe paced and twitched, watched him try to find a comfortable position to stand in,

"Does it disturb you, Abraham?" he asked, nodding towards his own hands, and then looking back at Abe, "That when you look at me, you see our Nuala? Not all of me, not the darkness that frightens you and your Bureau, but the pieces of me that you recognize as being shared by her - so that you can't help seeing her when you see me. How does that make you feel, knowing that when you take her hand, you also take mine? Does it discomfort you?"

 

[Seraph]

Abe twitched slightly at the idea of Manning spending the budget on his cigars (which frankly, some of them went to Red as a bribe for good behavior, which never worked) and brandy. The budget wasn’t just being used for that he reasoned to himself, as if trying to justify his not getting books and he spoke softly, without realizing it allowing Nuada to hear everything he thought the money was being spent on, “There is the electricity, the water, the food, the upkeep, the paychecks…fixing the doors every time Liz blows them up. Fixing Johann’s suit after Red broke it, fixing the lockers after Red and Johann had their scuffle.” He stopped pacing as he glanced at Nuada, almost not seeing him for a moment, “My tank.”

He shook off the look and seemed to come back into reality. It wasn’t often he spaced out when he was explaining things to himself, and it certainly never happened when he was around people. Even when he was drunk, he had managed to keep himself in the moment. Though he didn’t think it was kind to mention the deaths of the agents so callously, “Surprising that you would make a declaration of war on those who didn’t have the power—one might say it was almost cowardly.” Abe spoke bluntly, if a bit coldly almost to gauge the Prince’s reaction.

He had thought about it over the weeks and honestly, he could figure out why the Prince had made his declaration of war in an auction house of all places. True that the auction was selling one of the pieces of the crown but wouldn’t it have made more sense to him to sneak into the White House? It would have had more of an effect that would be for sure, a whole country without leadership would fall to anarchy quicker than Abe could recite the Periodic Table. And Red timed him at thirty seconds once.

“But,” he paused, as if he tried to force out the words and stumbled over each sound as he finally admitted, “I try not to think of that.” The truth was, he did think of it, often in fact. Which was probably what made him so nervous around Nuala, he had tried to ignore it but sometimes she would say something that seemed more likely to come out of Nuada’s mouth than her own. And other times, she seemed so wholly herself that he could ignore it, but mostly, he did think about it. And mostly, it did make him uncomfortable.

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

"You speak as though those humans were innocent; only their kind would be so irresponsible, so disrespectful as to sell a piece of a peace treaty." Nuada said, and there was a strange amusement in his voice, as though the concept had struck up some dark humour in him, and his eyes flicked over Abe once more, but this time there was a laziness about his gaze, as though he was taking his time looking him over now, "I know my dear sister has a fondness for the shining optimistics, but surely even you cannot be that naive."

He cocked his head to the side, and his words came out in a soft, educated tongue, but there was a darkness simmering just beneath the surface,

"Humans waged war on the planet many years ago, made it difficult for our kind to survive; their carelessness, their self-absorption, their gluttony, it poisoned the soil, withered the trees, burnt the sky and the air. They imprisoned us, treated us like lesser beings, tortured us - and you, you yourself were found in some filthy tank in a laboratory, were you not? You were subject to the whimsy of scientists who thought you were so terribly novel that they took you for themselves, like an object they could own, even applied their latin terminology to you in an attempt to categorize you like everything else, and then left you for the Bureau to find once they got bored of you."

He leaned his forehead against the bars, blinking slowly,

"They saw you, they prodded you and tried to read your vitals, but they never really tried to understand you. That cannot be expected of humans; they never seek to fully comprehend something, they just search for a way to make something benefit themselves - they studied you for decades and never quite realized what a marvellous being you are." he said, the last part slipping in almost unexpectedly; yes, Nuala was a silly, idealistic girl - but he couldn't bring himself to disagree with her taste.

 

[Seraph]

Abe considered his reasoning for a moment before he added to it, looking at it from a slightly altered perspective, "Naive?" He paused for a moment before he continued, "I don't think of it as naive. Perhaps they shouldn't have been selling a piece of a peace treaty, but it was a treaty that has fallen from the knowledge of most of mankind. Few, those most of them being here, believe that your race still even exists outside of children's novels."

Nuada's second part came almost as harshly as a physical blow, and caused the amphibian man to freeze as he considered his words. He spoke hurriedly, almost as it to make it true as his hands moved slightly in the air to accentuate his point, “That was a long time ago…humans didn’t understand then,” he trailed off quietly.

He didn’t remember the years in which he was left, forgotten, in a rotting tank. He had a vague idea that it wasn’t pleasant, and he had insisted on his tank being large here. Very large; perhaps he remembered subconsciously the tight space he had been left in? He shook his head slightly and blinked rapidly twice. Even though he said it was a long time ago, it really wasn’t. Humans hadn’t changed much over the years, when he was found they didn’t poke and prod him that time, to see how he worked but they had, like their predecessors, named him without care towards his feelings. Abraham’s feet started to move and then his body as he worked out the nervous energy in his body. The words marvelous specimen rang in his mind and he glanced at Nuada curiously before he spoke,

“I will bring you more books next time I visit. Which did you like the best?"

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

"And do you really believe they understand now?" Nuada asked, rolling his head back, peering at Abe through his pale lashes now, his tone was low and dark,

"What do you think would happen if you stepped outside? Do you believe they would accept you as one of their own, that they would treat you with dignity and respect - or do you think they would cage you, lock you away and do a living autopsy so they can see what you look like inside?"

He spun around then, facing away from Abe for the first time, holding his hands behind his back and walking inside the cell; it was rare for Nuada to hold still for any length of time, a trait that Abe currently seemed to be sharing with him.

"No, Abraham, they haven't changed - they still do not understand, and they never will. They will continue to kill the earth, to take more than they need to sustain their numbers and give nothing back." Nuada said, "And should they ever happen upon you and your friends, every one of you will be systematically slaughtered for their amusement, or their - science."

He spat out the last word with distaste.

"Don't bring anything. I don't care to read anymore human literature." he said flatly, "I fear their drivel might somehow infect me."

 

[Seraph]

Abe's jittery movements took a second to calm as Nuada turned away to pace his own cell. His movements, on the other hand, were paced, controlled, and made it appear as if he were pondering rather than trying to find a way to let out nervous energy. His gills flared slightly as he glanced towards the guards who were peeking around their barricade to watch the interview with interest, as they murmured between themselves about why Abe would want to talk to him, or why Nuada seemed more willing to be civil with him than Manning. Abe drew his hands up and tugged at the gloves he wore before he nodded to Nuada's back, "Perhaps...we can talk again another time then."

He walked swiftly from the cell, down the hall, and towards the upper levels of the B.P.R.D and to his library. His thoughts were muddled, and he needed a swim (or a new book, a snide thought came) to work through everything Nuada' had said. The Prince seemed to know, immediately which words to say to draw the worst of his memories and the deepest worries he had from his soul. It was a trait he seemed to share with his sister--just another thing that the twins had in common. Another thing that made it, at times, had to distinguish how they were different rather than how they were the same. He walked up the stairs to the second floor of the library before he dove into his tank and swam in mindless patterns as he tugged off his gloves, letting them sink to the bottom of the tank.

Still the question burned inside of him; why, when they were so similar, were they so different? And just how much did Nuada feel when he touched Nuala's hand? Was it the same as holding his, or was it different?


This mind never did work out those thoughts, and he knew it would take a while before he courage gathered enough for a return visit to Nuada's cell. It was only through one of Liz's bouts of anger, did he find the need to seek refuge in the lower levels again a few days later. One would have thought, that her temperament would have mellowed slightly with the news of her pregnancy but, if anything, she was worse. She had come into the library and ranted about another thing Red did, or rather didn't do, this time. He had promised to clean his room to make more room for her and their coming children, but he wouldn't give up anything. And her tooth-brush had ended up in another can of moist cat food, a fact that she was so happy about. It had taken roughly thirty-minutes before she lit up, and then an additional five minutes before she started to heat up the room so much that his water began to boil.

In the end, she had managed to set three books on fire and completely destroy them. The sprinkler system went off in the library and throughout most of the B.P.R.D causing a mild flood in some areas. He glanced around the hall way as he walked to Nuada's cell, it seemed that the water hadn't effected much down here. It was still the same single hallway with cells lining either side of it and only a few puddles here and there. But they were in the shape of shoes, meaning it had been brought down from the upper levels by some drenched Agent. The Agents on duty were a different set this time; one who read a tabloid and scarcely looked at him, and the other, who was soaked, had out his iPod and was playing it. Neither paid attention to their duties, and Abe was concerned with that. Not that Nuada would escape, but be in need of help.

He would insisted it was only because he cared for Nuala he was so concerned. He walked almost up to the bars of Nuada's cell, "Hello Nuada."

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

Nuada spent the following days doing what he always did inside of his ten-by-twelve world; he paced irritably, he exercised furiously, and he sometimes sat unmoving for such long periods of time that the humans outside the door became worried that he had died there. Twice now, they had interrupted him during meditation, and their concern amused him, mostly because it was clear their concern was for their jobs - after all, it wouldn't do to have him die in the B.P.R.D.

Though, at this rate, there was a good chance he would die of boredom.

Nuala visited him once, briefly, in that period of time; she stood outside his cell, just beyond his reach like a vision, dressed in pale yellow robes and watching him with her ever-searching eyes. Nuala wouldn't ask the ridiculous questions, like how he was doing, how he felt - they were unneccessary because she knew how he felt, she knew what the time in the cell was doing to him.

And she knew there was nothing she could do to change it.

The humans outside the door didn't even pretend they weren't paying attention; they watched the pair intensely, their curiosity taking over the need to be subtle. While Nuada could disregard the way they looked at him, he found difficulty in ignoring the way they observed Nuala, like she was some kind of - monster.

But there was nothing for them to listen to; the siblings stood in silence, watching eachother, exchanging meaningful glances and extended eye contact, their thoughts flowing through eachother in endless waves, it was a level of understanding that even the most intimate couple could never hope to achieve. Nuala came closer and they held hands, and for that terribly brief moment in time, both of them felt complete.

No one else could understand this.

With the exception of Abraham Sapien.

The thought had entered Nuada's mind, unbidden, and so he knew it had belonged to his sister; she gave him one of her peaceful smiles, and then they parted ways without a single spoken word, an act that left the two men at the door puzzled. When Nuala passed, they murmured to eachother in the irritating way that humans tended to do.

And it was two days later, Abe returned; there was a strange sort of exhaustion in the other man, he could sense even before seeing him. At the time, Nuada was sitting on the edge of the bed, his eyes closed, back rigid, legs in lotus position,

"You are frustrated, Abraham," he said and then opened his eyes, fixing them onto Abe, "And so you've come here?"

 

[Seraph]

If Abe had an eyebrow to raise, he might have found ample opportunity at Nuada's opening statement. It wasn't so much that he was frustrated (that little voice that had become increasingly incessant, said otherwise); it was more that he was tired of the situation. Not only was he not going to get any new novels, he had a growing wish list for when the ban was lifted, but several of his books were now in less than spectacular condition. He hadn't stayed to survey the damage, but he was quite sure that one of his first editions had several pages missing from it, or if it still had them, were charred to the point touching them might disintegrate them.

No, he wasn't frustrated. He was vaguely annoyed with having to wait for his tank to be cooled so he could rejuvenate his skin, the heat had dried him out a little, and the sprinklers hadn't been enough despite the flood. His large blue eyes surveyed Nuada for a moment before he returned a statement for a statement, "And you are bored."

The amphibian cocked his head to the side before he continued, "Unless you have gained the ability to project different emotions, one may consider my arrival to be a blessing in your favor." Abe mentally winced as he edited his previous thoughts--he was frustrated and he was no better than Manning for taking it out on Nuada, a person who was in no position to retaliate to the fullest extent possible. Though was his anger unjustified? Nonetheless, he bit out his apology and started to pace.

"Perhaps I am frustrated."

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

There was an air of mild annoyance to Abraham that day, and the thought of the amphibious male being angry stirred something inside of Nuada that he would take the time to thoroughly analyze later; unlike humans, elves weren't the sort to ignore or push away their emotions - no, they looked them over, inspected them, really sampled and tried to understand their own feelings because. By acknowledging their own failings, their flaws and their talents, by accepting their inherent darkness and goodness, they grew and flourished while other societies collapsed in on themselves and failed from the unease.

But then there were creatures like Abe - Abe, who was fascinated by the occult and relished knowledge about darkness, yet -

"Do you fear your duality?" Nuada asked, brushing off Abe's apology; there was no need for it, Nuada had a private appreciation for the other's spontaneous response - he loathed the edited conversations, where people turned the words over in their head a dozen times before saying it, rather than saying what they truly meant. Especially since Nuada could see what they really wanted to say.

He rose from the bed, approached the bars as he had done before so he could get a better look at the other.

"It's clear that you embrace the darkness of the people around you - Miss Sherman, I believe, was responsible for setting off the sprinkler system with her temper, and the one you have deemed as your closest companion is a descendant from the very pits of hell," he said, "Yet you take it in stride. But your darkness, Abraham, do you run from it?"

 

[Seraph]

"My duality?" He breathed out curiously, as he considered what it could mean even as he listened to the rest of Nuada's argument and final question. Abe took a step closer, feeling that any answer at this point needed to be more private even if the agents behind them were paying no mind, and stared at Nuada for a solid moment. He looked for mockery in his pale face, but all he found was curiosity (a feeling that reverberated through the room as boredom subsided). It would have been almost innocent, if it had been anyone else.

He considered giving an answer that would take an age and a half to decipher, and give him ample time to find an actual answer, perhaps even allow himself to find out if he did or did not accept his darkness, as Nuada put it. He blinked before he settled on his answer, "Is it not easier to reconcile with someone else's demons than one's own?"

He moved his hand in a vague gesture towards heaven and hell, the mythical and religious entities of light and dark, and continued, "Stare into the abyss long enough and the abyss stares back into you. No one can come back quite the same after they review their darkness, perhaps it is for the better, perhaps for the worst. But few ever do admit to themselves the demons they harbor. Red and Liz haven't," he paused, "Though their recent brushes with death may have brought more to the surface than they were, are, willing to admit."

"And you, Nuada, have you run to your darkness?"

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

Nuada did something odd then; he smiled. It was a bright, straight, remarkably white smile that bared his bizarrely sharp canine teeth, a strange feature for a species that strictly adhered to vegetarianism. It lasted only for an instant, a flash of the expression before it subsided to his previous, impassive one.

"A master of the language," Nuada purred, and with Abe standing so close to the bars, he found himself wanting to reach out; he wanted to touch Abe, to feel the smooth, cool skin under his fingertips, to feel the blood pumping and the thudding rhythm of a pulse, but he resisted,

"You have said everything and nothing, very well executed Abraham." he said softly, running his palms up the bars until his arms were up above his head, and he leaned his forward against the cool metal of the bars, "And it would have been more than enough to throw another off the trail but - oh, you just haven't really answered. Does the introspection disturb you?"

His head cocked to the side at Abe's question,

"Oh, he is a clever one," Nuada murmured, eyes flicking over the other, "I have accepted who I am Abraham, my darkness, my - passion - just as my sister has accepted her inherent light, her inflexible morality. She understands my views even if she disapproves of my actions, my willingness to kill for my cause does disturb her, and as you witnessed yourself - she would kill herself before she allowed a life to be taken in her presence. So long as she can prevent it, she will, whether that life is human or - otherwise."

He ran his tongue over his lips,

"But therein lies the hypocrisy," he said, "Your Bureau, your home here, would eagerly destroy those that aren't human - this team they've assembled here, they're a source of amusement, a freak show for the government. Your employ here is not a matter of equality, and it never will be - while I am tried for crimes on humanity, your Bureau kills without consequence or care. That earth spirit that was destroyed was the last of its kind."

For a moment there was pain in Nuada's eyes, and a flash of anger, but it subsided the way the smile had,

"It's death marked a genocide. Do you understand, Abraham? That beautiful life is gone. I would gladly use every ounce of my darkness to prevent yet another of those losses."

 

[Seraph]

Abe started slightly at the smile; it was quick and gone almost as soon as he noticed it, but it had been a nice smile. he found that he liked seeing Nuada smile. It was a very nice smile, and he found that he would like to see that smile more often. He almost complimented Nuada, before the prince's words stalled his own. It had been a very long time since anyone had complimented him on his manner of speaking; most of the time, he was told that he had to worry it up, or 'only give the juicy bits'. Unable to return the smile, the muscles in his face didn't support the movement, he gave a small nod of appreciation.

His gills fluttered a moment as he continued, as usual how to respond to Nuada. It wouldn't do to throw accusations and ideas out at him; oddly enough, he thought, this was calming. In all honesty, the idea of introspection was something that bothered him slightly. In theory, he could admit it sounded wonderfully horrible to understand yourself fully but there had to also be guilt for knowing such. Would this be one of those cases in which ignorance truly was bliss? He tilted his head to the side as he considered a new thought; would Nuada's actions been different if he didn't know himself? Would Nuala never tried to kill herself to save everyone?

He hemmed for another moment, not noticing the quicksilver flash of anger when Nuada spoke of genocide. The blue amphibian male spoke, "The earth spirit could be considered a causality of war--a war which you started. He, if recall correctly, was ordered by you to kill Red." He let this sink before he continued, "Perhaps it is better to be in the den of lions than in their mouths. Perhaps we do understand that if we were to side against them, we too would end up dead."

Abe sighed and murmured pleasantly, "Which is why I must wonder if there is any need to look into my darkness, when that which is around us is much more interesting."

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

"This war," Nuada said slowly, "Began long before I existed - I merely continued where it left off, after humans broke the treaty by causing so much agony to the Earth. The treaty was made with the ideal that the humans would stay to the cities, leave the rest to nature - but they invaded everything, every aspect of the world became subject to their cruelty. Forests have been ravaged, oceans polluted, animals slaughtered and forced into extinction by human brutality all because they want to wear furs and drive - a mercedes."

He spat out the last word like it left a foul taste in his mouth,

"The war was never ended, it was put on hold because my father naively believed the humans would live up to their word. I never agreed with him, it was a source of immense - disturbance - within the family, you could say." he said, "For years, he stood by and did nothing while the Earth dissolved around us, while our kind was threatened by humans, while the Earth agonized at what was being done. This war began long ago, and your Hellboy had a choice - he chose the humans."

He stared, unblinking, at Abe,

"Because your darkness is an integral part of your being. It is just as much a part of you as your flesh - you constantly seek knowledge, it would do you well to learn more about yourself," he said, and suddenly his hand was through the bars, his palm was on Abe's chest, not doing anything but - touching him, "I see your darkness, Abraham, and it is most certainly worth exploring."

 

[Seraph]

Abe listened to Nuada with the ease of someone who had done such for years. Abe was the ears of the B.P.R.D, the one everyone came to when they had their problems and needed to talk them out. While it was flattering that they thought he could help them somehow, he wished, at times, they wouldn't all flock to him with their secrets. He'd never intentionally tell a secret, but there were always slip-ups, no one was perfect after all. He let his hand drop to his side before he waved it towards the general area of the outside and top-side world, "And what of the humans who strive to protect nature? P.E.T.A and such perso--"

He broke off when Nuada's hand pressed against his chest. His hand was calloused but light against his smooth, almost rubbery skin, and Abe swallowed hard in surprise, his gills expanding as he considered this. Touching was, he was almost sure, against the rules for visiting Nuada. While exceptions had been made in Nuala's course, this could get either of them in trouble, yet he felt no need to move. It wasn't a hostile gesture and it was...dare he say, nice? He gave a slight nod and he spoke with a slight stutter as he pushed out, "I-I see."

Abe allowed Nuada's hand to remain where it was for another moment, relishing in the warm feel, before he took a small step back. Not enough to truly remove his hand from his skin, but enough to silently remind Nuada that touching probably wasn't the best idea; especially given how jumpy the Agents were around the Prince of Bethmoora (or would it be King, given that his father was dead?) It wasn't surprising given that Nuada tended to be faster, stronger, and more limber than any of the Agents--he could kill them without care, he had said as much.

Abe wondered what would happen if Nuada ever was released. How many people would die, and who would be left to mourn them? Would anyone be left?

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

Oh, now what was this?

Nuada felt Abe stiffen suddenly at the touch, but Nuada didn't remove his hand; instead, when Abe backed away, he merely allowed his palm to slide down the prominent pectorals, and then he slowly dragged his fingers over the other's abdominals, his eyes remaining pinned to Abe's the entire time as he discovered the feeling of him. Yes, this was much different from his Nuala's skin, which was overheated and supple, while Abe's was cool and firm, and the reactions were different as well - Nuala did not evade touch, and while Abe wasn't avoiding it entirely, he was shying away as though unsure of his own perspective on it.

But he could see it wasn't entirely unpleasant to Abe, though Nuada knew his touch was different from his sister's - and he knew Nuala had caressed Abe with her delicate fingers before, though the touches had mostly been chaste, with the occasional moment of passion. His sister was moving slowly with Abe, she was being careful and sensitive with him, as she was with everyone else.

Nuada's eyes dropped then, and he very openly admired the other man's torso, looking over the places he had touched, studying the pattern of stripes and markings that covered Abe.

"Some day," Nuada murmured, "I will explore you further."

It was unclear if he was referring to Abe's mind, or his body.

"Perhaps you'll even remove those ridiculous gloves." he added, quirking a brow at the flexible, skin-tight leather things that Abe always wore; from what he had learned, the source of Abe's readings were his hands - though he was capable of some minor reading with the gloves on, the strength was from touch, "I do wonder what you could learn without them."

 

[Seraph]

His breath caught slightly as Nuada's fingers trailed downwards. He might night have the same responses as human did when they were touched, the ripple of their skin, but that didn't mean he didn't have as many, if not more nerve endings brushing the surface of his cool skin. He watched Nuada's face rather than his hand as he left his hand over his abdominal muscles. If Abe could have blushed, he was quite sure he would have been. As it was, his hands moved in a frantic almost embarrassed way as he took another step backwards to distance them as Nuada's words played havoc on his mind.

It seemed that both of the twins were skilled at putting him in situations that he wasn't sure what to do with. Nuala's touches were innocent, a brush against his shoulder or arm, or sometimes gently grasping his fore-arm when walking with him. It was slow, easy, something he could handle. He wasn't a fool and knew that she was, in a sense, training him to get used to touch that was friendly but more than just that. Abe blinked several times rapidly and moved as if to leave before he stayed; he would have to leave soon to rehydrate but for now he could handle the dry sensation as he tried to work out Nuada's new...disposition.

It had come as a surprise, the touch, that is, and his comment afterward could be taken in two ways. The latter of which, being his body, was something Abe wasn't quite ready to explore and, with the ease of a highly structured mind, boxed away the idea and allowed him to focus on just the mental aspect. It was much safer. And safe, when working with Nuada, was something Abe was learning to appreciate.

Abe glanced at his gloves and gave a rolling shrug, "Perhaps, but hearing and feeling everyone's emotions can be troubling at times and invasive." He plucked at the fingers of his gloves half-heartedly before he stopped the all-too nervous gesture, "Perhaps there are things better left unknown, Nuada."

He broke off into a different topic quickly, almost worried where this one could lead, "I heard that Nuala visited?"

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

It was subtle, but Nuada heard it; it was a brief catch in Abe's breathing, a sweet momentary pause that told the elf precisely how his touch had registered with the other, a catch that told him that his warm fingers on the cool skin hadn't been ignored - he knew that his fingers had left a trail of heat on the smooth abdomen, and he knew that later when he was left to his own devices, Abe wouldn't be able to help thinking about it. When he saw Nuala, Abe wouldn't be able to help thinking about it, just as he knew his sister was already aware it had happened.

Nuada watched Abe for a long moment, he watched the awkwardness in the other's movements, the way he shuffled and twisted, shifted quietly to move his attention away from the subject at hand - yes, he was nervous, he was uncomfortable with the topic. He suspected that the other wasn't used to this sort of attention on him, given that Abe's supporting cast consisted of the spawn of Satan, woman who frequently set rooms on fire with her emotions, and an invisible German. Ultimately, Abraham Sapien ended up being the confidante for all of his co-workers, the one who lingered in the background, who did the brain work, who kept them all alive in the situations that couldn't be saved by the sheer brute strength of Hellboy.

"She is very fond of you," Nuada said, retracting his hand to the bar again now that Abe had retreated from the touch, "She has not told me as such but - I cannot help but overhear."

 

[Seraph]

The warmth left behind from Nuada's fingers seemed burned into his skin. Even though the touch was no longer there, the sensation lingered pleasantly. Nuala's touch, at times, evoked similar feelings in him but never had they left such an impression on his senses. Abe had trouble composing himself and knew that he would have to think it over later, as he did with every conversation he had with Nuala or Nuada. He sometimes felt that there was something else he could have said, or done when he left their presences that made him feel foolish for not noting it then. He wondered if Nuala knew about this exchange? She probably did. He never asked her in detail how much she knew from her brother, but sometimes she seemed almost as bored as her brother was, as if his dissatisfaction with being imprisoned was her own.

Abe stopped shuffling as he smoothed his hands over his pants as if to remove the wrinkles that couldn't exist in such a material. He gave a little nod, "I'm very fond of her as well."

Did that mean he was also very fond of Nuada? The prince had insinuated it before that whatever his sister felt, he did and vice-versa. That was something to ponder later, perhaps as he spoke to Red about it. Though that might involve beer, and Abe was going back to his strict ideology that his body was a temple. As amusing as that had been, he had been slow and sluggish, and even after sobering up when Red had been injured, he hadn't felt anywhere near how he normally did.

"She seems to be happy here," he added as he looked around for a clock, even though he knew there would be none around. It was a method for control, that way the prisoner would have to rely on you for even something like that. As if being caged and then taken care of like a pet wasn't indignity enough.

 

[sevenpercentsolution]

"She isn't." Nuada assured Abe, not to be cruel, but simply to tell the truth, "She is indoors, Abraham, and our kind does poorly inside for too long. Walls become prisons, artificial light becomes a cruel reminder of the sunlight just beyond our vision, the ridiculous controlled temperatures are imitations of the wind on our skin."

He didn't need to say it; the implication was that the two of them shared their feelings and thoughts, and so Nuada's irritability with his situation had become his sister's, and even if Nuala was satisfied within the Bureau, her brother's slowly unravelling sanity couldn't be ignored. He had been indoors for weeks now, subject to the same room, the same surroundings, the same people guarding his little square of space to ensure he never left - but he had made no move to attack them. He had never once acted in violence towards him even though he could easily kill most of the population of the B.P.R.D.

"The only thing that pleases Nuala are those who haunt these hallways, she has an innate fondness for anything with a pulse, and now that she no longer needs to try and escape me, she has obtained satisfaction in getting to know those here, understanding the different lives and species. She finds humans as fascinating as our own kind, she adores them." he said, and there was a tiny, dreamy smile on Nuada's face that looked as though it belonged to his sister, not him, and after a moment he realized he was doing it and shook it off,

"At times, her optimism makes me feel ill," he admitted sourly, "But I cannot fault her for it, just as I know my realism has been cause for her grief."

 

[Seraph]

"Oh."

He could have been articulate and said something that mildly sympathetic but really there wasn't anything that fit the situation more than that simple noise. Abe resisted the urge to compare Red and Nuada, but finally gave in. Both of them suffered from the same urges, though for vastly different reasons. Nuada needed to be outside to live whereas Red wanted to be outside because he wanted to fit in, to be normal. Abe raised a hand to his mouth, and rested the tips of his covered fingers there as he considered what he could do to help. It was obvious that if he didn't try something that both Nuada and Nuala would be in pain. He knew that latter being in pain, pained him, and slowly the former was gaining a place in his life. Nuada was, easily, one of the most intelligent persons in the B.P.R.D and it excited him to speak to someone on, or perhaps even above his level.

The amphibian tilted his head in the opposite direction at the whimsical smile before he spoke, "Perhaps there is a way for us...me to speak with Manning. If it is a matter of life or death, which it appears to be, you might be allowed to go outside for an hour or so daily as long as it was under guard." It was possible, but not plausible until Nuada said that he loved humans and would never kill them again, given that that would never happen.

"You and Nuala are both so interesting," he admitted, "Books don't do either of you justice...and I don't like knowing that you--her--both of your are unhappy. Even though Nuala is always free to go outside, she does blend in with humans more than," he waved to the general vicinity of the building, "us."